Adhesive coated articles



United States Patent 3,501,327 ADHESIVE COATED ARTICLES George Andrew Brennan, 7100 W. Chester Pike, Upper Darby, Pa. 19082 No Drawing. Filed Aug. 11, 1967, Ser. No. 659,944 Int. Cl. D21h 1/36; B44c 1/08 US. Cl. 117-1Z 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The invention is an improvement upon pebble wax coated adhesive articles. Originally, the articles of the prior art were susceptible to disfigurement during handling, shipping, storage, etc., due to scratches upon the Wax surface. The improvement consists of reproducing a graphic representation on the outer surface for example, by a halftone printing process and then overcoating with a wax adhesive.

In the manufacturing of adhesively coated bulletin boards in the nature of my prior Patent 2,914,873, issued Dec. 1, 1959, a problem new to the art was encountered. It was found that the pebbled wax coatings peculiar to this patent were highly susceptible to disfigurement from scratches, bruises, and scuff marks received during the manufacturing and shipping of these products, as well as while on display in stores, and when in actual use. This problem seriously increased manufacturing, shipping, and sales costs, through excessive damage, and greatly curtailed the useful life of the products in use.

The object of this invention is to provide a method of manufacturing such pebbled coatings so that minor physical damage to the surface is almost completely invisible.

A comparison between my prior art article and the article produced herein will show the damage is quite apparent and there is an extreme contrast in the texture between the coated surface and the scratched area in the prior art article. A damage to the article produced herein is almost totally invisible, even under intense oblique lighting, and at close range.

This phenomenon occurs in the use of a wide variety of graphic background subjects. It is particularly true of graphic representations of textured surfaces, such as fabrics, wood grains, stone, foliage, and other renderings involving fine graphic detail. The essential factor appears to be that substantial parts of the graphic background ornamentation be composed of closely spaced variations in graphic tones. The most effective form of this being the tonal graduations achieved by what is known as halftone printing. In this form the graphic material is broken up into multiple dots of varying tonal quality, in the 55 manner of 'benday screening.

The effect is still further heightened if the pebbled wax overlay does not cover 100% of the surface, but leaves small areas of the background ornamentation exposed, adjacent to some of the fax droplets. Opaque and darkly colored waxes are not suited for the purpose, but all translucent white or light colored waxes will perform in the manner described, and the microscrystalline waxes in white or amber grades are especially well suited.

The background ornamentation may be produced in one or more colors by any of the conventional duplicating techniques, such as etched or engraved plates, used directly, or by offset printing. The supporting surface is also limited only by its suitability as a printing surface, and includes not only paper stock, but most other sheet materials on which the required graphic detail can be reproduced, such as sheet plastics and enameled metals.

As both half-tone printing and the spraying of waxes are well established commercial procedures, they need not be further described here for those skilled in these arts.

I claim:

1. An improved article of manufacture employing a pebbled wax coating, the improvement consisting of an underlying graphic ornamentation on a substrate, said ornamentation being composed of closely spaced tonal variations in the ornamentation, and cooperating with an overlayed, light, translucent coating of said pebbled wax so as to camouflage to a high degree, subsequent superficial damage to the said pebbled wax coating.

2. An article of claim 1 in which the said graphic ornamentation is a representation of a textured surface.

3. An article of claim 1 in which the said graphic ornamentation is reproduced by a half-tone printing 3O process.

4. An article of claim 1 in which droplets of the said wax are spaced apart so that portions of the said ornamentation are left exposed adjacent to some of the said droplets.

5. An improved article of manufacture employing an adhesive pebbled wax coated surface for the purpose of temporarily adhering articles thereto, said improvement consisting of the imprinting on a surface of the article a graphic ornamentation having closely spaced tonal variations, and subsequently overlaying a light, translucent coating of an adhesive, pebbled wax, the said pebbled wax and the said graphic ornamentation cooperating to render surface damage to the said pebbled wax, notably less visible.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,061,456 10/1962 Davis et al 117168X 2,914,873 12/1959 Brennan 117168X 2,817,600 12/1957 Yahnke 117168X 1,892,392 12/1935 Grupe 117 15 1,792,414 2/1931 Cole 117-15X ALFRED L. DAEVITT, Primary Examiner A. GRIMALDI, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 117 15 

